Global assessment of psychosocial functioning in child and adolescent psychiatry
- 1 October 2004
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
- Vol. 13 (5), 273-286
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-004-0390-2
Abstract
Global assessment of functioning represents an important aspect of assessment in clinical practice and research. It can help identify persons in need of psychiatric treatment, have predictive value and measure change over time, including treatment effects. This review examines publications concerning development, psychometric properties and usefulness of three scales for children: Axis-VI in ICD-10 Global Assessment of Psychosocial Disability (GAPD), Children’s Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) and Axis-V in DSM-IV Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF). It is based on literature searches in PubMed and PsycInfo (1977–2003), and screening of Scandinavian and English textbooks on child psychiatry. The three scales differ in theoretical guidelines, descriptions of codes/anchor points and psychometric aspects. CGAS has been evaluated in 69 papers and 33 have been published on GAF used for children. The one paper comparing GAPD and CGAS found both scales sufficiently reliable for clinical practice. Reliability of CGAS and GAF has been found to vary from fair to substantial, depending on raters, training and diagnostic groups. International consensus for the use of one scale for global assessment of functioning for children 4–18 years would improve reliability in clinical practice and ease comparisons of studies across countries. A training programme would assist in this.Keywords
This publication has 116 references indexed in Scilit:
- Risperidone Monotherapy in Preschool Children With Pervasive Developmental DisordersJournal of Child Neurology, 2001
- Psychiatric Disorders and Impairment in the Children of Opiate Addicts: Prevalances and Distribution by EthnicityThe American Journal on Addictions, 2000
- Emergency referrals to an acute psychiatric service: Demographic, social and clinical characteristics and comparisons with those receiving continuing servicesJournal of Mental Health, 2000
- Maintaining Theophylline Compliance/Adherence in Severely Asthmatic Children: the Role of Psychologic Functioning of the Child and FamilyAnnals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, 1997
- The youth client satisfaction questionnaire: Development, construct validation, and factor structureJournal of Clinical Child Psychology, 1997
- Confirmatory and disconfirmatory family communication as predictor of offspring socio‐emotional functioning. A 10 to 14 year follow‐up of children at riskActa Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1996
- First-episode Schizophrenia: I. Early Course ParametersSchizophrenia Bulletin, 1996
- Inter‐Rater Reliability of Global Assessment of Functioning in a Clinical SettingJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 1995
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder in children and adolescents. A 6–22 year follow-up study of social outcomeEuropean Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 1995
- Expressed Emotion, Communication Deviance and SchizophreniaPsychopathology, 1995